Harmonie (Collector’s Edition Blu-ray & DVD) Unboxing

Harmonie (アルモニ) is a 2014 original short anime film directed & written by Yasuhiro Yoshiura, and produced by studios Ultra Super Pictures and Studio Rikka. Staff credits also include character designer Atsushi Ikariya with original character designer Ryuusuke Chayama, and music composer Tomohisa Ishikawa. The short film was released as part of the Anime Mirai 2014 event in Japan on March 2014.

Background:

“Akio Honjou is a student with an incredible gift – the ability to perfectly recall any piece of music after hearing it only once. It’s this skill which leads him to meet Juri Makina, after trying to reproduce an ear-catching melody he hears from her mobile phone.

Beguiled by his classmate, Akio hopes that this song can reveal more about her, and so this simple ringtone becomes a springboard to allow the two to learn about one another’s thoughts, dreams, and the world each of them inhabits within their mind. As the two’s inner worlds begin to overlap, Akio finally experiences what it means to be drawn into the world of another.”

Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, December 2023.

It’s been a while since Anime Limited have picked up a title that isn’t relatively new of sorts. Harmonie is a short film by Patema Inverted & Time of Eve director Yasuhiro Yoshiura which I have very much enjoyed the two films that he worked on. I haven’t seen Sing a Bit of Harmony yet which is his newest work so far, but learning that he had more made years back had me intrigued.

What’s even more intriguing is that Harmonie is part of a series of short films produced for the Anime Mirai (Young Animator Training Project) 2014 event which included The Big First-Grader and the Small Second-Grader by A-1 Pictures, Paroru’s Future Island by Shinei Animation, and Kuro no Su – Chronus- by Studio 4°C. In the year prior they had Death Billiards by Madhouse which eventually spawned the Death Parade series, and studio TRIGGER’s Little Witch Academia which also received its own series. Sadly Anime Limited only went after this short film and not the whole set but I suppose the licensing was a lot more complicated if they were to try and get all four of them.

Even though its a short film they did go out of their way to release it on home video which was revealed at MCM Comic Con London in October 2023 but barely anyone knew about it unless they attended or saw photos online that were taken from the panel.

Collector’s Edition Contents:

Anime Limited are also fans of director Yasuhiro Yoshiura even if they only have one or two in their catalogue, but to release a collector’s edition for Harmonie which is a short film is a surprise.

This edition is presented with a rigid box containing a Scanavo case to house the discs. Alongside the case is a 32-page booklet, containing character designs, and various artwork from the film.

The artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The collector’s edition Blu-ray parts are 1000 units each printed for an SRP of £39.99. A standard edition Blu-ray was also released not long after this edition.

The collector’s edition Blu-ray was made available to order directly through Anime Limited’s online store as an early bird during the month of November, on offer for £24.99 (with the Anime Unlimited membership lowering the cost down to £22.49). However, I decided to hold off and eventually it was included in the August 2024 Summer Sale for £19.99 (£17 with a 15% Summer sale discount offer) which is where I received my copy of the set.

Physical Contents:

• Rigid Box with Scanavo packaging and clean artwork
• Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
• 32-page Booklet

On-Disc Contents:

Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 18th December 2023

The collector’s edition release for Harmonie contains the short film on a single Blu-ray disc and a single DVD disc, with the encode and authoring by VDMS.

As there was no English dub produced, the audio option available is Japanese with English & French subtitles. As this is a VDMS disc, you have the option to choose between English & French menu text at the start and can switch back and forth without having to reset the player.

The white subtitles are locked during playback and the regions are locked to Blu-ray players set to B and DVD players set to 2 with NTSC playback.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages	Japanese
Audio	Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Video	1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio
Region	B
Subtitles	English, French
Locked Subtitles	Yes
Discs	1 BD-50

DVD Specs:

Languages	Japanese
Audio	Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0
Video	Standard Definition in NTSC format 16:9 aspect ratio
Region	2
Subtitles	English, French
Locked Subtitles	Yes
Discs	1

Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:

• Storyboard Animatic (24 minutes length)
• Textless Ending

DVD On-Disc Extra Features:

• Storyboard Animatic (24 minutes length)
• Textless Ending

Unboxing Photos:

Final Notes:

Harmonie is available to purchase on Blu-ray by Anime Limited in the UK & Ireland. The collector’s edition Blu-ray & DVD release can be bought through the AllTheAnime Store.

The standard edition is available to purchase across different retailers including Amazon UK, AllTheAnime Store, and Anime-on-Line.

(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)